Clinch-type fasteners are known in the art for securing two panels together. Typically, a displacer on the shank of the pin deforms material on the bottom of the two panels and pushes the material into an undercut in the shank, thereby locking the pin to the bottom panel. At the same time, the underside of the head of the pin abuts the top panel and holds it against the bottom panel, thereby locking the two panels together.
Clinching tack pins having a miniature size are known in the prior art. Miniature tack pins are very useful but their very small size makes them very difficult to handle, i.e., load, orient, feed, deform, etc. As new tack pin designs get smaller and smaller, the associated handling problem has become even more challenging and in some cases commercially impossible. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a miniature tack pin that can be easily commercially handled by an automated machine and is economical to produce.